Special Collect for the Youth 2019
To all Superior Councils and Conferences of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul
The upcoming Special Collect for the Vincentian Youth, launched by the Council General International in order to help young Vincentians throughout the 150 territories where the SSVP is present, is coming soon. This decision was made by our President General, the fellow member Renato Lima de Oliveira, with a view to responding to the demands of the youth he met in 2018 at the 2nd International Vincentian Youth Meeting, held in Salamanca (Spain).
In the Circular Letter dated January 31st 2019, the President General stated as follows:
“The Council General gives its full support to Vincentian children, teenagers and young people, because we do believe that they are a source of renewal for our Society. Today’s young people will become tomorrow’s Vincentian leaders. Hence, we suggest that the Councils set aside a small budget for youth activities, since they need financial resources, among other things, for prospective member information sessions, formation courses, publication of advertising materials and trips to other countries; in other words, key resources for driving forward the work undertaken by youth delegates. My sincere congratulations to the Councils that have already adopted this procedure! In this regard, the Council General has agreed that the ‘Special Collect for the SSVP Youth’ will be held in each country on July 4th, and that the total amount raised to set up a ‘SSVP Youth Fund’ will be managed by the Superior Council (or similar) in each nation. I am convinced that our fellow members’ generosity will allow this fund to be built up with sufficient resources in order to boost activities related to the SSVP Youth. Thanks for all your support!”
The President General suggested that the Special Collect should be made during the Conference meeting to be held from 1st to 7th July, 2019 or at the earliest possible date. This collect can be made at any conference meeting in July.
The guidelines provided by the CGI International Youth Committee is that all collects will be sent to the respective Superior Councils, which, in turn, should allocate the amount collected to work with young people in the country. Those Superior Councils with better financial conditions and/or those that have raised more money may promote twinning, by donating the amount to countries with less resources or by allocating the amount to the International Committee so that it will be distributed to countries with limited resources.
Within a culture of transparency, all Superior Councils shall inform the Council General about the amount collected and the activities to be undertaken. This information shall be submitted to cgi.ivp-youth@ssvpglobal.org no later than August 31st, 2019.
“I firmly believe that this collect will become a tradition in our Society. My wish is that it will take place on a yearly basis during the week of the SSVP International Youth Day; thus, young people could have additional economic resources to organise events and improve youth-specific communication. In other words, the goal is to invigorate the role of Vincentian youth to renew the SSVP. The national youth committees, in line with the Superior Councils, shall decide how and where the resources will be allocated”, stated the fellow member Willian Alves, the CGI Vice-President for Youth, Children and Teenagers.
The Vincentian youth are grateful for the support provided by all the Conferences with regard to this Special Collect. They commit themselves to renew the SSVP with audacity, courage and great joy when it comes to Serving in Hope.
